In Death 29 - Kindred in Death

J. D. Robb
Kindred In Death

    Table of Contents
    Title Page
    Copyright Page
     
    Chapter 1
    Chapter 2
    Chapter 3
    Chapter 4
    Chapter 5
    Chapter 6
    Chapter 7
    Chapter 8
    Chapter 9
    Chapter 10
    Chapter 11
    Chapter 12
    Chapter 13
    Chapter 14
    Chapter 15
    Chapter 16
    Chapter 17
    Chapter 18
    Chapter 19
    Chapter 20
    Chapter 21
    Chapter 22
     
    EPILOGUE

    TITLES BY J. D. ROBB

    G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
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Copyright © 2009 by Nora Roberts
    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or
distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do
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Published simultaneously in Canada
     
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robb, J. D., date.
Kindred in death / J. D. Robb.
p. cm.
    eISBN : 978-1-101-15104-4
    1. Dallas, Eve (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Policewomen—Fiction. 3. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction.
I. Title.
PS3568.O243K
813’.54—dc22
     
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
    While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
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    Welcome, kindred glooms!
Congenial horrors, hail!
    —JAMES THOMSON
     
    A lie which is half a truth is
ever the blackest of lies.
    —TENNYSON

1
    SHE’D DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN. OR BETTER, BECAUSE who knew if there was really good sex and lazy holiday mornings in heaven. She was alive and kicking.
    Well, alive anyway. A little sleepy, a whole lot satisfied, and happy the end of the Urban Wars nearly forty years before had resulted in the international Peace Day holiday.
    Maybe the Sunday in June had been selected arbitrarily, and certainly symbolically—and maybe remnants of that ugly period still littered the global landscape even in 2060—but she supposed people were entitled to their parades, cookouts, windy speeches, and long, drunk weekends.
    Personally, she was happy to have two days off in a row for any reason. Especially when a Sunday kicked off like this one.
    Eve Dallas, murder cop and ass-kicker, sprawled naked across her husband, who’d just given her a nice glimpse of heaven. She figured she’d given him a good look at it, too, as he lay under her, one hand lazily stroking her butt and his heart pounding like a turbo hammer.
    She felt the thump on the bed that was their pudgy cat, Galahad, joining them now that the show was over.
    She thought: Our happy little family on a do-nothing Sunday morning. And wasn’t that an amazing thing? She had a happy little family—a home, an absurdly gorgeous and fascinating man who loved her, and—it couldn’t be overstated—really good sex.
    Not to mention the day off.
    She purred, nearly as enthusiastically as the cat, and nuzzled into the curve of Roarke’s neck.
    “Good,” she said.
    “At the very least.” His arms came around her, such good arms, in an easy embrace. “And what would you like to do